Bang For Your Buck! Stretching Pasta/Marinara Sauce

Bang For You Buck! 

Illness brought me to a financial hardship that I had never faced before.  Having no income at this time, I have learned so many things but will stick to how I've learned to cook to make food stretch as much and as long as I can.  I've been blessed with friends donating food to me, which is a total blessing and every other week, I go to Food Share, which entails standing in line for different food items.  Since this is a tough time for everyone, I thought this may help others also.
I also will be posting products that I find that I can afford and/or friends have given me. 
Hope this can help no only me, but others :)

In making meals stretch, I have become very creative in meal planning.  This recipe can make four meals.

1.  Chicken Parmesan
2.  Penne Pasta and Meatballs.
3.  Meatball Grinders
4.  Sausage Grinders

All items used have been gifts or items that I received from Food Share and I am so grateful to have these things to make nutritious meals.

This was my Dad's recipe and is a family favorite.

Ingredients

• 3-4 Large Cans of Crushed or Whole Tomatoes (depending on your preference, I use the Crushed)
• 1 small can of Tomato Paste
• Tablespoon of Fresh Basil, chopped
• Tablespoon of Fresh Oregano, chopped
• Teaspoon of Parsley leaves
• 6 Cloves of Garlic (Once again to taste, we love garlic)
• Pasta of your choice

Instructions

Place all ingredients in large pot or what I use is a crock pot and cook on low heat for 10-15 hours (that is the trick)

 You can add meat as per taste.  The meatballs I used for this dish were not my own because I have no hamburger meat but were left overs from a friends party :)

Meal #1

~*Chicken Parmesan*~

Ingredients 

• Boneless Chicken Breast is what I like to use but didn't have them and used Chicken Thighs that were given to me. 
• Fresh Mozzarella Cheese, once again I used Provolone due to it being a gift.
• Italian Seasoned Bread Crumbs
• Italian Dressing
• Pasta Sauce
• Pasta

Marinade Chicken in Italian Dressing in fridge for 3-4 hours. Take Chicken and dip into Italian Seasoned Bread Crumbs. Placed Chicken in baking dish. Top with Pasta Sauce. Bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes. After Chicken is almost done, add  Cheese.

While cooking Chicken, cook pasta and sauce.


Meal #2

~*Penne Pasta and Meatballs*~

Cook Penne Pasta to taste, add pasta sauce and meatballs.

Meal #3 and #4

Meatball and/or Sausage Grinder

No need to explain ;)

ENJOY!